Day: June 6, 2014

Machine Shop

Pink Panther Woman: Extruder Contamination

The Pink Panther Woman is my reference standard (*) for smooth perimeters and zitless filament retraction:

Pink Panther Woman - left
Pink Panther Woman – left

That’s vastly improved since the Thing-O-Matic’s last attempt:

PPW - outie zits
PPW – outie zits

Done in natural PLA, as it seems the previous version also walked off:

Pink Panther Woman - natural PLA
Pink Panther Woman – natural PLA

The attentive reader will note an odd red stripe on the left leg of the black PLA version. Here’s a closer look:

Pink Panther Woman - black with red contamination - detail
Pink Panther Woman – black with red contamination – detailPink Panther Woman – black with red contamination – detail

I had recently changed from red to black PLA and, as usual, purged the extruder with a few hundred millimeters of black filament, until it emerged pure black. Alas, I forgot to wipe the outside of the nozzle:

Pink Panther Woman - black - contaminated nozzle
Pink Panther Woman – black – contaminated nozzle

That red blob produced the red tab on the neck, as you can see if you look carefully at the first picture.

There are very few visible imperfections in either object: the state of DIY 3D printing is pretty good.

(*) Does anyone know of similar male figures suitable for this purpose? That torso seems to be about the extent of Thingiverse’s offerings.